University's electricity bill to rise

The University's electricity bill will rise significantly at the end of May after its contract with its current provider runs out, further complicating SIUC's budget outlook for 2006, University officials said Tuesday. For the past three years, the University has been locked into a deregulated electricity rate that helped keep SIUC's bill constant. Ameren Energy Marketing, which sells electricity to any entity on the open market, has proposed a 15 percent increase for this coming year.

The bill is expected to rise $390,218, a 7 percent increase. If the University continued to use electricity at a deregulated rate, that increase could be $1.4 million, or 21 percent. Administrators said they are concerned about the already stretched Physical Plant budget. The Physical Plant also is facing additional costs following Monday's 75-minute power outage.

Scott Pike, superintendent for building maintenance, said the Physical Plant has been hard hit ever since SIUC began struggling with a smaller state-funded budget three years ago. Many staff members at the plant were laid off, Pike said. He said this unexpected cost now will make some of the plant's operations even harder to accomplish. "Everything has been real, real tight," Pike said. "Now we are going to have to come up with the money, and I don't know how we are going to do that. "A few things are probably going to have to stop, but hopefully it won't be staff because we've already been cut pretty deep."

The Physical Plant will not be the only entity on campus that will have to foot the bill. Auxiliaries will have to come up with extra money to pay the electric rate increase. The Recreation Center, Student Center, Student Health Programs, University Housing and Rainbow's End child-care center are all auxiliary programs that are self-supported. The University will not have an open bid for energy providers, Pike said. He said the bidding process would complicate what would be relatively easy switch to Ameren Energy Marketing's parent company.

"A lot of time and money would have to be involved with bidding," Pike said. "It doesn't make much sense to go out to the open market for a bid." Cathy Hagler, executive director for administration, said it is possible that extras, such as deferred maintenance, work that does not need immediate attention, will have to be scaled back. Hagler said she was worried about the Physical Plant's budget. "I don't know how we will come up with it," Hagler said. "We are doing what will have to be done, basically with no new funds."

The University has been paying $45.97 for every megawatt hour of electricity it uses for the past three years. The 7 percent increase will raise that hourly rate to $49.40, which Pike said should hold steady. Nancy Hunter Pei, assistant to the vice chancellor for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management, said the auxiliaries continue to try to plan for increases, but year after year the burden seems to grow. "It's going to be a challenge," Hunter Pei said. "We, in essence, pay for everything."